NZ vs Pak: Williamson equals Fleming's record of most fifty-plus Test scores for Kiwis
Dec 27, 2020
Tauranga [New Zealand], December 27 : New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson has equalled the record for the most fifty-plus scores for the Kiwis in the longest format of the game.
The right-handed batsman achieved the feat during the ongoing first Test match against Pakistan on Saturday. Williamson now jointly holds the record of the most fifty-plus score (55) with former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming.
However, Williamson is still 15 half-centuries away from topping the list for New Zealand. Fleming has 46 half-centuries under his belt while Williamson has 32.
The Kiwis skipper hit his 23rd Test hundred and second in the row on Sunday following his 251 in Hamilton against West Indies. However, spinner Yasir Shah got the better of him in 105th over after Williamson (129) had steadied New Zealand's ship.
With the hosts looking in a dismal position at 13/2, the Kiwi skipper stood up and got counted on day one. For Pakistan, it was a one-man show on Saturday as Shaheen Shah Afridi picked all the three wickets -- first dismissing the Kiwi openers and then sending back Taylor.
The Kiwis are currently in a commanding position having scored more than 370 runs with the loss of six wickets.
Earlier, put in to bat first, New Zealand got off to the worst possible start as Shaheen removed Tom Latham in the opening over of the Test.
Riding high on confidence from his recent outing in international cricket, the pacer came back all guns blazing and then dismissed Tom Blundell. The wicket-keeper batsman edged the ball to slips to leave his team in trouble during the first session.
However, Williamson and Taylor steadily batted through till lunch on the first day and had seemed to have recovered from the early blows.
The second session fully belonged to the Kiwis as Pakistan went wicket-less to see the duo bringing up their tenth hundred-plus stand in the longest format of the game. The duo had put on a fighting 120-run stand for the third wicket to keep Pakistan bowlers at bay.
